The Hartford Financial Services Group Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

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Provided by Quartr
April 26, 2024

There are 16 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good morning. My name is Audra, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Hartford Financial First Quarter 20 24 Results Webcast. Today's conference is being recorded. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise.

Operator

After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer session. At this time, I'd like to turn the conference over to Susan Spivak, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Good morning, and thank you for joining us today for our call and webcast on Q1 We reported results and posted all of the earnings related materials on our website. Now, I'd like to introduce our speakers. To start, we have Chris Swift, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer followed by Beth Costello, our Chief Financial Officer. After their prepared remarks, we will begin taking your questions. Also with us to assist with your questions are several members of our management team.

Speaker 1

Just a few comments before Chris begins. Today's call includes forward looking statements as defined under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results could be materially different. We do not assume any obligation to update information or forward looking statements provided on this call. Investors should also consider the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from these statements.

Speaker 1

A detailed description of those risks and uncertainties can be found in our SEC filings. Our commentary today includes non GAAP financial measures. Explanations and reconciliations of these measures to the comparable GAAP measures are included in our SEC filings as well as in the news release and financial supplement. Finally, please note that no portion of this conference call may be reproduced or rebroadcast in any form without The Hartford's prior written consent. Replays of this webcast and an official transcript will be available on The The Hartford had a strong start to the The Hartford had a strong start to

Speaker 2

the year, sustaining outstanding financial results through the Q1. Our strategy and ongoing investments, combined with disciplined underwriting and pricing execution, exceptional talent and innovative customer centric technology continued to drive outperformance. Let me call your attention to some highlights achieved in the quarter. Top line growth in Commercial Lines of 8% with an underlying combined ratio of 88.4% strong renewal written pricing increases in Commercial and Personal Lines, Group Benefits core earnings margin of 6.1% and solid performance in our investment portfolio. All these contributed to an outstanding and industry leading trailing 12 month core earnings ROE of 16.6%, reflecting consistency of our margins and continued growth generated by our businesses.

Speaker 2

Now let me share a few details from the quarter. Commercial Lines performance reflects strong top line growth and highly profitable margins. In the marketplace, we are prudently taking advantage of elevated submission flow, in part driven by the investments we have made to expand our product capabilities and the efficiency of the broker and agent experience. From that flow, we are using our data science advancements, pricing expertise and industry leading underwriting tools to drive profitable, double digit new business growth in each of our 3 businesses. In addition, retention is steady and exposure growth remains solid, although moderating from the elevated levels seen the past couple of years.

Speaker 2

In Small Commercial, we are shattering previous quarterly written premium records, while sustaining underlying margins. New business growth was 11% in the quarter, driven by strong submission flow and growth in E and S binding. We are particularly pleased with E and S binding, a key area of focus, which is on track to grow annual written premiums by approximately 50% in 2024 to nearly 300,000,000 dollars I remain incredibly pleased with the overall performance in small commercial and bullish on its outlook. We expect to sustain outstanding financial results by reliably serving agents and customers with industry leading products and unmatched ease of conducting business and unrivaled pricing accuracy. Moving to middle and large commercial, the financial performance continues to be exceptional.

Speaker 2

Written premium growth reflects strong renewal rate execution and new business growth of 18% with an especially good quarter in guaranteed cost construction and general industries. We are building a track record of delivering meaningful growth, while consistently maintaining underlying margins. The stellar performance in this business is a direct result of our underwriting discipline enabled by the investments we have made to enhance our capabilities. Combining these advantages with our best in class talent and the strength of our distribution relationships, we remain well positioned to profitably grow this business. In Global Specialty, results were excellent with underlying margins consistent with last year and solid top line growth, reflecting our competitive position, breadth of products and strong renewal written pricing.

Speaker 2

Written premium growth was propelled by 20% increase in our wholesale business with significant contributions from primary and excess casualty lines. We are particularly pleased with wholesale construction activity found in the quarter as well as overall increased submission flow, both meaningful drivers of new business growth. We remain excited about the Global Specialty business, including our position in wholesale and reinsurance market and from a broadened product portfolio. Looking across commercial lines, we continue to grow our property book, another key area of focus. We are capitalizing on favorable market conditions with a disciplined approach, including no change in our catastrophe risk appetite.

Speaker 2

Property written premium for the quarter was approximately 17% higher than in 2023. Turning to pricing, excluding workers' compensation, commercial lines renewal written pricing rose 0.07 from the 4th quarter to 9% with strong low double digit pricing in property and auto and high single digit in general liability. Public D and O pricing is still pressured, so relatively stable with the 4th quarter. All in, ex comp renewal written pricing in commercial lines remained comfortably above loss cost trends. In workers' compensation, renewal written pricing remained slightly positive in the quarter.

Speaker 2

In summary, Commercial Lines delivered an outstanding first quarter result with ongoing momentum in the market. Moving to personal lines, our Q1 financial performance demonstrates progress towards restoring targeted profitability in auto as we continue to address current loss trends. Auto renewal written price increases of nearly 26% have likely peaked given our view of moderating loss trends for the remainder of the year. In addition, we have achieved new business rate adequacy in the vast majority of states and as a result have resumed national advertising this month. In Homeowners, renewal written pricing of 15% during the quarter comprised of net rate and insured value increases outpaced underlying loss cost trends.

Speaker 2

This year, we are celebrating our 40th anniversary with AARP. In 1984, we embarked on this journey with a shared vision and commitment to serve mature market customers. Our focus on this preferred segment coupled with our modern innovative and digitally enhanced product and platform Prevail is a competitive advantage. Our updated offering is currently available in 42 states and represents approximately 60% of our new business premium this quarter. With pricing gains, enhanced risk segmentation and moderating loss trends, I expect Personal Lines to meaningfully contribute to core earnings as it returns to profitability in 2024 and reaches target margins in 2025.

Speaker 2

Turning to Group Benefits. Our core earnings margin of 6.1% for the quarter included improved mortality trends from the prior year and continued strong long term disability claim recoveries. Fully insured ongoing premium growth of 2% reflects strong, but slightly lower persistency and a 6% decline in sales, primarily driven by group life, where we are being disciplined with pricing and underwriting in this competitive marketplace. We continue to strengthen our capabilities for customer service with an extensive suite of tools for HR platform integration, member enrollment, process simplification and analytics. As part of our strategy to grow amongst small and midsized businesses, we are investing in our platform.

Speaker 2

This includes strengthening distribution relationships and actively seeking out new partnerships. Employers are more focused than ever on the needs of their employees and our products and services are a key part of that value proposition. Moving to investments, the portfolio continues to support The Hartford's financial and strategic goals, performing well across a range of asset classes and market conditions, and Beth will provide more details. In summary, Hartford delivered another strong quarter with sustained momentum heading into the remainder of the year. Let me reiterate why I am so bullish about the future.

Speaker 2

First, our financial results continue to prove the effectiveness of our strategy and the impact of ongoing investments in our business. 2nd, Personal Lines results are showing improvement. We are achieving necessary rate increases and expect 2024 margins to progress towards targeted profitability. 3rd, with our disciplined underwriting and pricing execution, exceptional talent and innovative customer centric technology, we will continue to sustain superior results. 4th, investment income remained solid, supported by elevated yields and a diversified and durable portfolio of assets.

Speaker 2

And finally, we remain dedicated to enhancing shareholder value through supporting organic growth, continued investment in our business, and proactively managing our excess capital. All these factors contribute to my excitement and confidence about the future of The Hartford and our ability to extend our track record of delivering industry leading financial performance. Now, I'll turn the call over to Beth to provide more detailed commentary on the quarter.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Chris. Core earnings for the quarter were $709,000,000 or $2.34 per diluted share with a trailing 12 month core earnings ROE of 16.6%. Commercial Lines had an outstanding quarter, with core earnings of $546,000,000 and an underlying combined ratio of 88.4 percent in line with our expectations and slightly better than the prior year Q1. Small commercial continues to deliver excellent results with written premium growth of 8% and an underlying combined ratio of 89.6%, further building on its impressive track record of delivering an underlying combined ratio below 90. Middle and large commercial also delivered outstanding results with 9% growth over the prior year and this marks the 4th consecutive quarter of written premium exceeding $1,000,000,000 The underlying combined ratio was excellent at 89.2, a 0.7 point improvement over Q1 2023, primarily due to a lower expense ratio, driven by the impact of strong earned premium growth.

Speaker 3

Global Specialty's underlying combined ratio was an exceptional 85.3%, relatively flat to the prior year. Written premium growth of 8% was driven by accelerating renewal written price increases and new business growth of 17% excluding Global Re. In Personal Lines, core earnings for the quarter were $33,000,000 with an underlying combined ratio of 96 point 1, including a strong Homeowners underlying combined ratio of 77. The auto underlying combined ratio of 104 point 4 was in line with our expectations and is a year over year improvement of 3.7 points once the reported ratio for the Q1 of 2023 is increased for the 3 points of development that occurred in the Q2 of 2023. This result is consistent with achieving the 5 to 6 point full year improvement we previously discussed.

Speaker 3

Written premium and personal lines increased 13% over the prior year, driven by steady and successful rate actions. In auto, we achieved written pricing increases of 25.7% and earned pricing increases of 19.1%. In Homeowners, written pricing increases were 15.2% for the quarter and 14.4% on an earned basis. The total personal lines expense ratio improved by 1.2 points, primarily driven by the impact of higher earned premium, partially offset by higher direct marketing costs as we increase our marketing spend to drive new business growth in those states where rates are adequate. With respect to catastrophes, P and C current accident year cats were $161,000,000 before tax or 4.2 combined ratio points, which compares to $185,000,000 in 2023 or 5.3 points on the combined ratio.

Speaker 3

Total net favorable prior accident year development within core earnings was $32,000,000 primarily due to reserve reductions in workers' compensation, which were partially offset by reserve increases in general liability, assumed reinsurance and Ocean Marine. In addition, we had $7,000,000 of favorable development in personal auto physical damage. We also recorded $24,000,000 before tax in deferred gain amortization related to the Navigators ADC. This positively impacted net income with no impact on core earnings. Based on our estimate of payment patterns, we expect total amortization of the deferred gain in 2024 will be approximately $125,000,000 before tax with the remaining balance amortized in 2025.

Speaker 3

We have provided additional information in the appendix of our earnings slide deck on both this ADC and the A and E ADC for your reference. Turning to Group Benefits. Core earnings in the Q1 of 107,000,000 dollars and the 6.1 percent core earnings margin reflect improved Life results, continued strong disability performance and fully insured premium growth. As a reminder, from a seasonality perspective, we tend to experience higher underlying loss costs in the Q1. The group disability loss ratio of 70.1 improved 0.3 points from 2023, driven by continued strong claim recoveries, partially offset by higher incidents in paid family leave and short term disability products.

Speaker 3

The group life loss ratio of 82.6 improved 4.1 points versus prior year, reflecting improved mortality. Fully insured ongoing premium growth of 2% was driven by exposure growth, which remained positive, albeit at a lower rate than in the prior year. Book persistency in the Q1 2024 was strong at over 90%, but approximately 1.5 points below record high levels in 2023. Turning to investments. Our diversified investment portfolio continues to produce solid results.

Speaker 3

For the quarter, net investment income was $593,000,000 The total annualized portfolio yield, excluding limited partnerships, was 4.3% before tax, consistent with the Q4 of 2023. Our annualized LP returns were 1.3% and included positive returns for our private equity portfolio. Our real estate equity portfolio returns were impacted by lower valuations and the absence of real estate JV equity sales. Given the current macroeconomic backdrop, limited partnership returns in the 2nd quarter are likely to be similar to 1st quarter results with private equity returns being offset by declines in real estate valuations and property depreciation with no sales activity. We continue to believe our real estate holdings are durable and we will be patient as it relates to any sales in order to maximize value.

Speaker 3

Although we anticipate LP returns for the full year could be below 2023 results, we continue to believe that over the long term, results will continue to add value and be consistent with historical return. The overall credit quality of the portfolio remains high with an average credit rating of A plus Net credit losses remain insignificant. Turning to capital. During the quarter, we repurchased 3,800,000 shares under our share repurchase program were $350,000,000 and we expect to remain at that level of repurchases in the 2nd quarter. At the end of the quarter, we had approximately $1,000,000,000 remaining on our share repurchase authorization through December 31, 2024.

Speaker 3

To wrap up, our Q1 results reflect another quarter of delivering on our targeted return to enhance value for all of our stakeholders. I will now turn the call back to Susan.

Speaker 1

Thank you. We will now take your questions. Operator, could you please repeat the instructions for asking a question?

Operator

Thank you. We'll now begin the question and answer session. We'll take our first question from Andrew Kligerman at TD Securities.

Speaker 4

Hey, good morning. Chris, I noticed in your opening remarks, you talked about some pressure on group life sales. Is that something that you foresee going forward? I mean, overall sales were I think revenues were up about 2% in the quarter. So do you see that line being a bit pressured?

Speaker 4

And maybe you could give us a little color on what's happening in the group life area?

Speaker 2

Happy to, Andrew. Welcome. Yes, we did call out a little lighter sales volume during the quarter. I'm looking at Jonathan Bennett, he could give you additional color also. But I think Andrew, you might recall we've talked about being fairly disciplined in our thinking about where mortality is trending, particularly coming out after the pandemic.

Speaker 2

And the trends are downward, but we probably we believe we're still operating in an endemic state of mortality, which means it's going to be higher than normal, which we think will continue for at least the next couple of years. And we've been pricing our product with that view, which obviously has an impact then on sales if market participants don't have a similar view. So I think it's all good. It's all healthy for us. Again, key message, I want you to know we're being disciplined, but it might come at a cost of slightly lower group life sales than we maybe have enjoyed in the past.

Speaker 2

But Jonathan, what would you add?

Speaker 5

Yes, Chris, I agree with everything you've said. And think Andrew just reinforced the importance of us having our point of view and executing on that in the marketplace. If you think about where we are in the group life cycle, we're looking to the future. We're seeing improvements. When you look back at your trends, which is where you start in thinking about your pricing philosophy, A lot of that data is loaded with excess mortality and COVID losses.

Speaker 5

So the first step you have to do is figure out what to extract, how to normalize if you will for that data. And it might sound obvious to say we'll just take all the COVID claims out, but that's not how they always get reported. And so as a result, there is a fair amount of variation in judgment applied as you do that. And then looking forward, you need to make a call on where you feel like mortality will be in the next 3 to 5 years. And as we sit here today, if you were to pull some CDC data, I think you would see that the reported deaths are still trending are But I would say But I would say the range right now in the marketplace and pricing is about as wide as it's been ever based on all of those ambiguities, in how pricing can be developed.

Speaker 5

And that really is I think what the cause for some uncertainty in the marketplace is. But as Chris said, we have a strong point of view on where we are. We're confident and comfortable with that. And we'll continue to compete. Our capabilities are actually as strong as ever in that marketplace and we feel quite good about our positioning.

Speaker 4

That's very helpful. And then my follow-up is, there's been a ton of talk now about long tail reserving. I mean, for a while, it's been 16 to 19 underwriting years. Now people are talking about 20 to 22 or 2023. And when we looked at your reserves this quarter, I mean, it looked pretty modest in general liability and Sungri and Marine, and those were 16 to 19 years per year releases.

Speaker 4

Any concerns? I mean you looked great, but some of your competitors didn't. And so anything to read into going forward? Any concerns on your part?

Speaker 2

Andrew, I'll start and I'll let Moe and Beth add their commentary. But yes, I'm not going to speak to competitors because everyone's just slightly different. But the confidence that we have, particularly in our current loss picks are very, very high. And I think the context that I think Moe and Beth will explain to you is that we've been hard at work and sort of improving our underwriting our book, re underwriting it, looking at different classes of business, changing terms and conditions and Moh will give you more color. Beth can talk about the actual analysis that we do on a quarterly basis, which is very robust and gives us a high degree of confidence in our picks, particularly for the most recent years.

Speaker 2

But we're also humble enough to admit, we didn't get everything right over the last 5 years. And when we feel that adjustments are made, we're pretty clear and transparent about why we're making those adjustments and that will continue going forward. But Andrew, as we sit here today, I think you got it right. We feel good. We're not immune, but on a relative basis, I think we'll be better than most.

Speaker 2

But Mel, Beth, what would you add?

Speaker 3

So I'll start and then I'll let Mel provide some color and just add on to what Chris indicated. But as you noted, Andrew, in the general liability reserves, the prior year development that we recorded this quarter was related 16 to 2019 years, some large loss activity. And as Chris said, we do evaluate these reserves quarter to quarter and when we see activity, we do react to it. As it relates to the more current years, those tend to trend very well. As you know, these are long tail liabilities.

Speaker 3

So even if in the short term, they're looking strong. We don't react to that, because, as I said, these are long tailed in nature. But overall, we've not seen things in the more recent years that would cause us to change our picks at this point. And when I look at a variety of measures and I know you do as well, IBNR levels, paid activity, I think our more recent accident years, stand out as being strong. But it's also really important to understand, as Chris was indicating, actions that we've taken over this period to improve the overall book, which even adds to, how we feel about, our overall reserves in the more current years.

Speaker 3

But maybe Moe, I'll turn it to you to talk about some of the things that you and your team have been doing over the last several years, in this area.

Speaker 6

Yes, Andrew, maybe three themes just to build on Beth's point about actions we've taken over that time period. So first is obviously we've put significant rate in each of those years since 2019 in each of the 3 books and that is well in excess of some healthy trend. 2nd theme I would put out there is just remember the SME nature of our book. I mean, we just have a lower underlying, for example, auto exposure. Just to give you one stat, 79% of our middle market umbrella book attaches for clients with less than 10 vehicles.

Speaker 6

So it gives you a sense of the size of fleets, which is where a lot of the pressure is coming from. It's just auto. We don't have a transportation book of any real note. We don't really we've never deployed limits of greater than $25,000,000 gross and we have important reinsurance involved there. And the third, Andrew, I just I think we've taken significant underwriting actions as both Chris and Beth referred to since 2019.

Speaker 6

That's industry related, it's related to litigation hotspots, we've managed limits. Just as one example in our global specialty book, we got out of all primary GL high hazard in 2017. We just didn't think we could make money and we haven't gone back in just because we still don't think that marketplace is there. And so I just Andrew, I hope that gives you a sense of the book and we continue to invest in tools that are allowing our underwriters to make choices based on litigation hotspots, based on industry, based on underlying auto. So we just we've worked really hard at this and I think that contributes to some of the lack of news that you're seeing here.

Operator

We'll move to our next question from Elyse Greenspan at Wells Fargo.

Speaker 7

Hi, thanks. Good morning. My first question was on the personal line side. Just kind of following up, I think, Chris, you said that you guys are kind of turning on new business growth or did turn on this quarter, that you're at rate adequacy in the vast majority of states. Can you just give us a sense, I guess, what are you seeing from a frequency and severity perspective right now?

Speaker 7

And what do you expect, I guess, looking out over the next 12 months? You said when you put the expectation out that you expect to get to profitability this year and then reach the target in 2025?

Speaker 2

Elyse, thank you for the question and joining us. We're pretty pleased with the start on personal lines in totality. You saw the metrics that we've talked about, 25.7% written rate increase for auto, 15 ish in home. And I think the team is executing very, very well. I would give you a couple of data points to have you consider.

Speaker 2

As we think about the full year in 2024, it was we still see auto getting about 20 points of rate, plus or minus. So we still have that conviction, which then lays the foundation for the targeted profitability in 2025 that we've been talking about. I would say we're beginning to see moderation both in our auto loss cost trends on a BI and a PD basis. I'm not going to give you precise numbers just because it could be bouncy any 1 quarter to 1 quarter. But overall trends for 2023, let's say, we're in the mid single digits and I expect excuse me, mid double digits and I expect that to come down into the low double digit range here in 2024.

Speaker 2

And maybe there could be more improvement from there, but that's our best call at this point in time. And I think Beth importantly reiterated our point of view that we do see 5 to 6 points of underlying auto loss ratio improvement in 2024. And I think that again will put us on the right track to hitting targeted profitability in 2025. So, yes, we are rate adequate in 80% of our states. There's a couple of states that are going to be laggards for a while, they'll go nameless.

Speaker 2

But we feel good about what we're doing now with auto. And then likewise with home, you saw the underlying combined ratios improved over years. I thought our cat performance in total for the quarter, although slightly elevated to expectations, was still in line or within a range of long term trends. So pleased with the team and what they're doing both in auto and home in personal lines. Beth, would you add anything?

Speaker 3

Yes. Just a couple of things. Also, I'd point out that we did see some favorable development on the 23 accident year primarily coming out of the Q4 for auto physical damage. So we see that as an important proof point too. I just want to clarify on Chris' comment on the book loss trend mid teens.

Speaker 3

So that is mid double digit, but just to be clear mid teens. And we do expect that to decline over the period. But as Chris said, we're being cautious and looking at it very carefully and feel very good to be on track to get to the improvement that we laid out at the beginning of the year.

Speaker 7

Thanks. And then my follow-up is on commercial lines, looking at the price disclosure, stable on a reported basis, right, but that reflects the comp concentration. How do you guys see just pricing across commercial lines playing out as we move through this year?

Speaker 2

Yes. I'll add my color and then Moe will add his. But I hope you felt it in our tone at least. We're really pleased. The team is working hard from an execution side to have ex comp, our written renewal rate increase increased 70 basis points, I thought was healthy.

Speaker 2

That doesn't include an element of exposure that access rate, which we call out in the general 2.3 points range or 25% exposure, 75% rate base. So I think we see a lot of stability in the marketplace and still very optimistic as we play out 2024 here. So, I think that again why we talked about early on of the year of the stability of our margins and generally having a consistent outcome compared to 2023, I think it's still alive and well in our thesis as we execute here through mid year. But Moe, what would you add?

Speaker 6

Yes, Elyse, I would say it's competitive, but generally supportive, as Chris talked about properties moderating a little bit outside of our BOP and the BOP is still accelerating just in terms of what we're able to get there in terms of rate. The excess and umbrella is accelerating again. Auto is accelerating again. So broadly, I just I think we feel like the market is being fairly disciplined and supportive of what we're trying to get done for the year.

Speaker 7

Thank you.

Operator

We'll take our next question from Gregory Peters at Raymond James.

Speaker 8

Great. Good morning, everyone. So Chris, in your prepared comments, you talked about the no change in sort of the catastrophe profile of your property business and yet you said that you're growing your property business. I think the number you cited was 17% higher in the quarter. Maybe you can help reconcile how you grow your property business and not change your cap profile?

Speaker 2

Well, a cat profile versus risk appetite, I'd see a little difference. I mean, we're not increasing our property cat appetite per se. We've always said that we're willing to write property if it comes with some incremental small elements of cat, which I think we've been managing perfectly and Mo could give you more colors. But I would say, let me just give you a couple of stats is that pricing in our property book ex our global REIT business is about 14% up compared to 14.4% in the 4th quarter. As I said, we're growing that 17% and we're growing it in an important line, spectrum, E and S binding, our general industries properties, our large property capabilities are up almost 35%.

Speaker 2

And again, the pricing, I think, is still firm and holding up pretty well. But Mo, what would you add?

Speaker 6

Greg, I would just say that there are a couple of cat metrics that the team were really focused on. And for example, AAL, so annual aggregate loss to premium ratios, trying to keep those flat. So as premium goes up, obviously, we would like the AAL to stay relatively flat. And the same thing as we think about tail, we don't want to put on the risk without thinking about the tail risk. So we are closely looking at tail multiples like, for example, 100 year PMLs over premium.

Speaker 6

So those are the types of ratios that we're watching. So yes, the exposure itself is growing certainly from a cat perspective, but we're trying to keep it in balance as to the same rate as premium growth.

Speaker 8

Okay. That makes sense. So then building on some of your previous answers, I'm looking at the stats on new business production, policy counts inside your commercial business. Things look like they're going really well. I do remember a couple of quarters ago, you calling out some price competition in the middle market area.

Speaker 8

Just

Speaker 2

trying to

Speaker 8

get an update on it seems pretty stable and the outlook seems pretty bullish, but when you look forward, what are the areas that you're concerned about for potential competitive challenges?

Speaker 6

Yes. It's a competitive market. And I would say, especially in the larger end of each of our segments. So the larger end of small, we are finding more competitive. The larger end of middle is more competitive and the larger end of the specialty business.

Speaker 6

So anything with a lot of premium on the slip typically has a little more competition to it. But the only area that we're dramatically pulling back on is, as we've talked about many times, is public D and O. We just haven't seen that market stabilize the way we would like to. So you will see that book continue to shrink. Outside of that, Greg, I think we feel pretty good about the rest of the portfolio.

Speaker 8

Makes sense. Thanks for the answers.

Operator

We'll go next to Josh Shanker at Bank of America.

Speaker 9

Thank you for taking my call. Looking at the rate that you're pushing through on auto in particular, obviously it's sizable. Year over year, the policy countdown is down about 5%, which that might be even a good outcome given how much rate you're pushing through. 1 of your probably the largest direct competitor in the market, they raised prices not as much as you over the last couple of years and lost 20% of their business. What is the experience of retaining clients given that you are a direct carrier and you only can present them with Hartford product?

Speaker 9

Are they wanting to change and you're convincing them to stay? Are they doing buy downs? How is that experience coming with the retention?

Speaker 2

Josh, thank you for joining us. Yes, that's the trade off we're making right now, lower retention for a more profitable cohort to get us back to that targeted profitability. So I don't think it's outside of the range of expectations that we've had as far as that trade off. I think we've talked about sort of the PIF count decline compared to 20 23 before. We still see that in that 4% range.

Speaker 2

So again, that speaks to our conviction to get the necessary rate in the book. And you're right. I mean, it's a direct response business. I mean, it's Middle America from a customer side. So there's not a lot of, I'll call it, financial engineering we're doing visavis rate buy downs on auto or home deductibles things like that.

Speaker 2

It's pretty straightforward. We're sort of again strictly in the admitted business. But I think generally people understand the need to keep up with trend, the inflationary pressures, weather patterns are changing, all the social litigation and legal abuse systems that we've talked about is keeping pressure on our loss cost. And again, we've been able to work with our regulators to get rates approved either on a pre approved basis or file in use. So I think we're executing well and it's still a very dynamic and challenged environment.

Speaker 9

I don't mean to belabor the point, but I'm just curious if the customers are giving you a chance to retain them, are they calling up and asking what can we do to help me or are you just getting a notification that they've left to a competitor?

Speaker 2

I think it's more the latter. I don't think we're having very many negotiations over the phone as far as our product and our offer. And we're being empathetic when we talk to our customers, particularly the mature customers, but there's not a negotiation.

Speaker 9

Okay. Thank you for the clarifications and answers.

Operator

We'll take our next question from Mike Ward at Citi.

Speaker 10

Thanks. Good morning. I was wondering if you could maybe help us with some of the puts and takes driving the underlying loss ratio in commercial and I guess across the commercial subsegment?

Speaker 2

Mike, when you say puts and takes compared to prior year, what do you have in mind? What are you trying to get at?

Speaker 10

Yes. Well, I think last year you had mentioned I think commercial small commercial was hotter. Just trying to see how the underlying is doing year over year?

Speaker 2

Yes. I would just share with you, I guess from an expectation side, everything is pretty much right online. I mean, if you obviously, you could see we improved slightly on a loss ratio basis from prior year. Our non cat property is pretty consistent with prior year and maybe even slightly ahead of our expectations. So I don't want to avoid I don't want you to feel like we're avoiding a question, but there's nothing to call out.

Speaker 10

Okay. Thanks. And then maybe just on the loss trend. I know you said pricing was still ahead of loss trend. Just curious how loss trend assumptions if they're steady in the Q1 relative to, I guess, 2023?

Speaker 2

Yes, I would say generally our views on loss trends from 2023 have increased modestly. And that's obviously reflected in what we're trying to execute from a written rate side and the discipline we have there. And again, the guidance that we try to give our underwriters within with appropriate discretion. But yes, I would say loss trend is up modestly in 2024 compared to 2023.

Speaker 1

We'll move

Operator

next to Brian Meredith at UBS.

Speaker 2

Yes, thanks. Hey, Chris.

Speaker 11

I was hoping could you give us what your kind of E and S growth was in the quarter in your commercial line space? And just maybe your thoughts is, is that a market that you continue to expect to grow at a pretty healthy rate here going forward?

Speaker 2

Yes, Brian, I'll look to Moe to add any of his color. But I would there's 2 E and S components I'd have you think about. 1 is in small, right, our E and S binding business, which we've called out and we'd like to try to get to that $300,000,000 level. And then obviously, all our E and S capabilities within Global Specialty, whether it be property or casualty, that is an important component of what we're trying to do in the marketplace. But Moe, what would you add from an overall growth rate perspective?

Speaker 2

Brian, I

Speaker 6

would say, we're excited about the flow in both of the channels that Chris talks about, both in that binding, which is the small commercial and the flow into our brokerage that continues to grow nicely. We saw we continue to see the growth as Chris called out in his prepared remarks on the binding side. And we're seeing really good growth in the brokerage side, which sits on our global specialty business in both primary casualty, excess casualty. That rate environment continues to accelerate as I talked about earlier. We're under sized in property brokerage and in Global Specialty.

Speaker 6

We're undersized in inland marine. We're undersized in auto. So we just see that on the global specialty side, there's plenty of opportunity and the flow is there to support it.

Speaker 11

Great. That's helpful. And then second question, Chris, bigger picture question here. Looking at your personal lines business and understanding that the last couple of years have been challenging from inflation stuff. If I look at your homeowners business, it's been close to a decade since you've grown unit volume there.

Speaker 11

In auto, it's probably 6, 7 years, maybe a blip here and there. I'm just curious, maybe what is kind of what's going on during that period? And is the Prevail product kind of the answer to that now where maybe at some point here we'll see Hartford actually start to grow unit in the personal line space?

Speaker 2

Brian, I appreciate the question. I'm going to spare the torture going back 7, 8 years for everyone on what didn't go right. But I think more importantly, and we've talked about it in the various settings that the prevail product and platform does give us a step change in our abilities to effectively compete in our core market, which is a mature preferred segment through an AARP endorsement that will allow us to be more competitive in auto, in home. And as much as I said, we do continue to expect PIF count, particularly in auto to decline this year by 4%. We've also talked about that we feel like we start to grow PIF count modestly in 2025 and then maybe more meaningfully in 2026.

Speaker 2

So I think that's where we're at. We've made the investment. We're in 42 states. We should be in 46 by the end of the year and couple of other states will lag a little bit. But I think it gives us every opportunity to be growth orientated and then we'll see where we could take the prevail platform.

Speaker 2

Right now, it's obviously geared towards a direct response platform and channel. But maybe there's others that we would explore getting into it at the right time. Once we finish off the implementation of Prevail in the vast or all the states feasible, we'll start to think about the future a little bit differently. But we want to take care of the core right now. We want to get it back to overall profitability, particularly in auto.

Speaker 2

And then we'll build from there, Brian.

Speaker 11

Got you. And on the homeowners, are there geographic constraints just given where a lot of your customers may be as far as growth?

Speaker 2

No, I mean, we're obviously in all 50 states on a minute basis. We paused our new homeowners in California, which is a writing new homeowners business until the regulatory reforms get enacted to allow us to match price and risk appropriately. So, that's the only self imposed constraint we had. There's no other constraint besides our long standing not writing any new homeowners business in Florida since 15, 16 years, almost 20 years ago, I bet.

Speaker 11

Got you. Thank you.

Operator

We'll go next to Mike Zaremski at BMO.

Speaker 12

Hey, thanks. Good morning. Did you comment on what drove the pricing increases in commercial? I think it came from Global Specialty. Any color there if that's a trend or just maybe something business one off?

Speaker 2

Ask the question again, Michael. I don't think I understood you.

Speaker 12

Sorry, the commercial pricing, renewal written pricing increased ex comp from 8.3% to 9%. I think that was driven by that global specialty segment. Could you comment kind of if there's a trend there that's causing pricing to move north?

Speaker 2

Yes, I would say that the components that are driving that is primarily Global. Global had a good quarter. I'm looking at my sheets and all the casualty lines, property lines, international rebounded

Speaker 6

in a good way. So that's what I would call out. But Mo, what would you add? No, I think we are continuing to see moderation in the negative rates on public D and O. We're certainly seeing a shift in our portfolio towards more of the management professional liability.

Speaker 6

So there's a mix coming through there that's a part of it. I don't want to get too nuanced on you, but just that's the only additional detail I would give to Chris' comments.

Speaker 3

The only other thing I would add to that is when you look at the small commercial side ex comp, definitely saw rate increase there coming from the Spectrum product. So again, obviously, workers' comp is a large portion of small commercial, but if you ex that out, that contributed to the ex comp growth as well. Okay.

Speaker 12

That's helpful color. And I guess lastly, just not trying to nitpick, but the mentioned in the prepared remarks, Chris, that larger end of I think small, more competitive, yet you're successfully accelerating growth on new business and small commercial. So any kind of color you'd want to offer there on those dynamics?

Speaker 2

The only thing I'll say before Moe jumps in is, our small commercial franchise is world class.

Speaker 6

Hard to build on that, but I will try. I think the nuance we're trying to strike for you is that there are competitive spots in the marketplace and we're just really proud of how well our underwriters are navigating what is increased flow and that increased flow doesn't come as all business that we want to write and that's the same in small, middle and global. The flow is up significantly in all three businesses and we're just trying to get underwriters to really pick their spots and that's what we're trying to call out, Mike. Thanks.

Speaker 12

And I guess just is the small you brought up E and S many times and there's different levels of different types of E and S. It's been in your prepared remarks for a number of quarters. Is part of the E and S growth off of your small commercial chassis, which is kind of another world class product? Or is it just is it totally separate type of underwrite platform? Thanks.

Speaker 6

No, that's the beauty of the model, Mike. We're taking all of the strengths that we've had in the retail channel and applying the same business model to the wholesale channel and that's why we're so excited.

Operator

Next, we'll move to Yaron Kinar at Jefferies.

Speaker 13

I think in your prepared comments and also in response to an earlier question, you talked about some of the pressure that you're seeing in the Group Life sales just given your mortality expectations. That said, I think we're also seeing some slowdown in disability and voluntary. Can you maybe talk about the drivers for that slowdown?

Speaker 2

Yes. I'll just give you my point of view and then I'll ask Jonathan to add. I don't think I think disability is performing exceptionally well, whether it be claim recoveries and terminations and getting people back to work. I think growth has been solid.

Speaker 11

I'd say,

Speaker 14

I'm just referring.

Speaker 2

I just referenced levels are behaving. I

Speaker 13

was just referring specifically to the top line, to the NPE.

Speaker 2

Yes. I'm giving you all the good stuff and then we'll get to that. Okay. Sorry. So no, thank you.

Speaker 2

So again, I want you to feel like the book is healthy. And the top line, as I tried to address in my commentary, is a little challenged. Some of that is exceptional 2023 we had, but some of it is challenged as we mentioned due to our views on life insurance and how we're going to be disciplined there. Jonathan can give you additional color. So JB, what would you say?

Speaker 5

Yes. Jarni, just a couple of things on there. In terms of the top line, 2023, of course, was pretty exceptional on all the key metrics, the drive result. But I think we are seeing really strong results here even in the Q1 of 2024 comparatively speaking. But from a persistency standpoint, we still have book persistency in the low 90s which is historically quite good.

Speaker 5

We're very excited about that. It was even higher a year ago. And I think that does reflect a little bit the competitive nature of the market and the more likelihood that a customer may in fact take a case or take their business out to market. So we're addressing all of that. I think we're working through those renewal challenges and being quite successful with it and very much picking our spots.

Speaker 5

On the new sales also a bit more competitive in that market. We're excited adding new lines of coverage to existing cases. That's always important. And I think one of the best opportunities we have to continue sales growth is rounding that out. There can be a little bit of a downside with that of course in some cases around voluntary as an example.

Speaker 5

It's a smaller set of lines. If the bigger lines like disability move perhaps voluntary goes with it. So those kinds of effects in the marketplace is we're working through and addressing them. But we continue to have really strong results on supplemental health. And we've had some very exciting growth.

Speaker 5

It's a little bit more tapered right now, but an area that we continue to expand in and see a lot of big opportunities that trend into the future in 2024 and beyond I can already see continues to accelerate. So a place that we will stay focused and continue to deliver result.

Speaker 13

Thank you. And my second question, I want to make sure I heard, Chris, your comment correctly with regards to loss trends in personal auto. Did you say that they're currently in the low teens or you expect them to be in the low teens for 2024?

Speaker 2

I was trying to do a compare to 23 to 2024, mid teens in 2023, low double digits in 2024 for the full year. And what I was just trying to say is that bounces around quarter to quarter. So I'd rather have you see the bigger picture trend that going from mid teens down to even high double digits is pretty meaningful move.

Speaker 13

And I guess the reason I'm asking this is it does seem to be a little bit higher than what we're seeing industry wide right now. Is there something unique to the AARP book or to the policies that you're writing that that would keep the loss trend a bit above maybe mid to high single digits?

Speaker 2

I would just say our judgment and prudence is leading us to call that number where we sit today. And if it changes during the year, we'll let you know.

Speaker 13

Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Moving next, we'll go to Meyer Shields at KBW.

Speaker 15

I just had one question. I was hoping you could give us some guidance on how to think about how much lower the current personal lines expense ratio is compared to when you're in normal growth mode?

Speaker 2

So I would say on the expense ratio, I would have you think of the full year 'twenty three compared to the full year 'twenty four about being the same. Beth, I don't know if you would add any?

Speaker 3

Yes, I would agree with that. As we go through 24, you might see a slight uptick in Q2, because as we said, we are turning on marketing. And again, as the rate continues to earn into the book, that will start to level off. But our overall expectation right now for personal lines expense ratio, as Chris said, full year this year to full year, last year will be relatively flat.

Speaker 1

Okay. Is it fair to think of

Speaker 15

it as being a little bit depressed just because of the I guess the states where growth is it doesn't make sense?

Speaker 2

I don't think I understood the question. It was just hard to hear you, Maher.

Speaker 15

I'm sorry. No, I was just trying to get a sense as to whether we should expect, we look out to whenever personal auto is normalized, that the accessory issue should be a little bit higher than where it's been running for the past couple of years?

Speaker 2

Not necessarily, right? I mean, there's a volume issue, dollars and then a rate. So again, with the amount of rate we're getting in the book, I think it's helping keep the ratio the same. We might actually be increasing dollars, which we are sort of in a J curve model this year. But from a ratio side, that's why I tried to give you that full year number to sort of manage your expectation.

Operator

And we'll move next to David Motman at Evercore ISI.

Speaker 14

Hi, thanks for squeezing me in. Just a question on the expense ratio in commercial lines. You had 20 basis points year over year improvement, obviously, following a strong year last year. I was wondering, is there anything one off or anything that prevented us from seeing more expense ratio improvement year over year?

Speaker 3

So if you're looking at just quarter 1 to where we ended last year, I'll just remind you that in Q1, we tend to see higher expense ratio, just because of, some expense items that could have more heavily in Q1. When I think about Commercial Lines sort of full year, this year, for 20 24 compared to 2023, expecting it to be relatively flat as we go through the year. Again, any 1 quarter, you can have some movements relative to bad debt reserve adjustments and things like that. But overall, we see it relatively consistent.

Speaker 14

Got it. Thanks. That's helpful.

Operator

And we'll go next to Bob Wang at Morgan Stanley.

Speaker 14

Thank you. Just maybe a follow-up on reserving. I think this is for either Beth or Mo. When we think about the favorable reserving in workers' comp, just curious if there's a dollar amount that you can give us in terms of how favorable it was and how adverse general liability was?

Speaker 3

Sure. I'll take that. We actually have very detailed disclosures in our 10 Q and our IFS on that. So, for workers' compensation releases, were about $67,000,000 and then always we always have the workers' comp discount accretion that comes in for $12,000,000 that goes offset against that. And then, general liability was 17 and marine was 7 and assumed reinsurance was 9.

Speaker 3

But you could go to page 38 in our 10 Q and it lays it all out for you.

Speaker 14

Yes. Sorry for that. I must miss it. So that's totally my fault. So maybe just a follow-up on that.

Speaker 14

Just can you maybe talk about the current just reserving environment for workers' comp in terms of as we now 3 years after COVID, are there still quite a bit of favorable uplift so to speak post COVID? Or do you think the workers' comp book from a reserving perspective is likely to kind of normalize back down to more of a pre-twenty 19 environment? Yes.

Speaker 2

It's a complicated question, but I would say, I think it's normalized. Obviously, during COVID, were a lot of assumptions made as far as where trends were that obviously turned out to be prudent. But sort of 2 years out from sort of the official end of workers' comp, I think trends are behaving as we would expect. Frequency continues to be positive. Severity is still within our expectations, which we always talked about Bob of being a 5% trend, which again severity is behaving within that expectation.

Speaker 2

So yes, as I think about 2023 2024, there's a lot of continuity and consistency in workers' comp trends.

Speaker 14

Really appreciate that. Thank you very much.

Operator

And that concludes our Q and A session. I will now turn the conference back over to Susan Spivak for closing remarks.

Speaker 1

Thank you all for joining us today. And as always, please reach out with any additional questions. Have a great day.

Operator

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

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Key Takeaways

  • The Hartford delivered an 8% increase in Commercial Lines written premium with an underlying combined ratio of 88.4%, driven by double-digit new business growth of 11% in Small Commercial, 18% in Middle & Large Commercial, and 20% in its wholesale business.
  • Personal Lines saw auto renewal pricing rise by 25.7% and homeowners by 15.2%, with moderating loss trends setting the stage for a return to profitability in 2024 and targeted margins by 2025.
  • Group Benefits achieved a 6.1% core earnings margin on improved mortality and strong disability claim recoveries, while fully insured premium grew 2% despite a 6% sales decline in group life due to disciplined underwriting.
  • The investment portfolio generated net investment income of $593 million with a 4.3% annualized yield and continued high credit quality, while private equity and real estate exposures remain durable and patient.
  • The company repurchased 3.8 million shares for $350 million in Q1 and retains roughly $1 billion of share buyback authorization through year-end 2024 to support shareholder value.
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Earnings Conference Call
The Hartford Financial Services Group Q1 2024
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